With lots of rain and lowering snow levels in the 10-day forecast, we felt this day was our last chance to hike in the high country of the South Cascades this year. Due to a week day road closure of Forest Road 8040 for hazard tree removal caused by the 2012 Cascade Creek Fire, we could only do this hike on a weekend day. The road closure will last until snow forces the workers to quit for the year. We drove to the end of Road 8040-500 at Cold Springs Campground, then hiked up the South Climb Trail to the junction with the Round The Mountain Trail. We turned east on the Round The Mountain Trail, hiking towards Bird Creek Meadows for about 3.5 miles, where we turned north on the Trail of Flowers, then took the spur to Hellroaring Viewpoint at 6,500 feet. Although blue sky backed the freshly snow-dusted Mount Adams when viewed from Trout Lake, cloud banks moved in from the southwest by the time we reached the trailhead and provided high cloud cover most of the day. We put on lots of cold-weather gear and started hiking uphill on the South Climb Trail, which is a converted former roadbed. We met two deer hunters headed back down to their rig, otherwise, no other humans seemed to be present. At the junction with the Round The Mountain Trail at 6,300 feet, there was the first light skiff of snow on the ground. As we hiked east on the Round The Mountain Trail, climbing higher over ridges and ultimately crossing the Aiken Lava Bed, we were hiking in a light layer of snow. The air and ground temperatures were above freezing so the snow was not slick or icy. The light snow cover allowed us to see wildlife tracks, including a bobcat that followed the trail for a fair distance, and a snowshoe hare that had crossed the trail. By the time we reached the Yakama Nation boundary, the trail was bare. The meadows were quiet and empty, with only an occasional late flower still struggling to bloom. Clark's nutcrackers announced our presence and mountain chickadees flitted in the subalpine firs and mountain hemlocks. At Hellroaring Viewpoint, we counted 26 mountain goats across the valley on the Ridge of Wonders and on the mountain itself. While we ate a late lunch, the clouds thinned, the autumn sun broke through and we got one final 2014 sunny look at Mount Adams. As we turned to leave for our return hike, I said to the mountain "farewell until next year." By the time we hiked back, all the snow had melted away from the trail and surrounding landscape. As we reached the South Climb Trail junction at 4:30 pm, we met three lightly-dressed hikers with waist packs heading east toward Bird Creek Meadows. We were surprised that they were starting so late and didn't have much gear with them. Just after our encounter with the other hikers, the clouds lowered down the mountain and we found ourselves in misty rain and rising wind. We put on our rain gear for the final stretch back to the car. It seemed a fitting message that winter was not far away and reinforced our feeling that this was our last high mountain hike for the year.

Great six days out! Lots of wildflowers in meadows with little elevation gain on trail #9. Cold Creek fire of '12 has left a charred forest that you hike in and out of from Cold Springs to Sheep Lake. There are views of Mt. Rainier, Hood, St. Helens, and the changing faces of Adams as you make your way around the mountain. Day #1, we leave truck at Cold Springs and head up trail #183 to gain about 700 feet until reaching Trail #9, which is clearly marked, and head North. Trail #183 appears to be a road that was used at some time. A note here about the road to Cold Springs from Trout Lake. It is just not as bad as all the earlier reports I have read. It is the typical trail access washboarded road, narrowing toward the end, and takes about an hour to trailhead from Trout Lake. Not tons of parking there, but we started on a weekday. You also need a federal trail pass for parking, same kind of pass that gets you into Mt. Rainier (the state Discover pass will not work here.) We hiked on through a mix of burnt forest and beautiful meadows, crossing several small streams until arriving at Horseshoe Meadow, about seven miles from the trailhead. Nice camping on edge of meadow there. Trail #9 mostly contours the mountain, so once you are at 6100 feet, there really isn't a great deal of elevation change, so getting miles is easier here. Day #2 we head on toward Killen Creek where there is a nice meadow. There is a great campsite just before #9 junct with #112. Looks like a nice day hike from this site toward Mt. Adams. We move on to Killen Creek, crossing our most challenging braded river just after junct. with #112. This is apparently the West fork of the Lewis river, nothing tricky here but poles definitely help crossing over logs and rocks. Great campsites around the Killen creek meadow just before reaching the PCT/114 junct. This was a 10 mile day and a good place to camp. Day #3 we are day hiking from Killen creek heading as far around the mountain on #114 as we have time for. Trail #114 has more up and down than #9, but doesn't really climb much until after Foggy Flat. There is a very pretty meadow here with a partial view of Adams. Very soon you are entering "moonlike" terrain. The foliage becomes much more sparse until there are only a few grasses and hardy succulents among the moonscape. The cairns up to this point have been as big as a person. Enormous. They seem unnecessary here as the trail is well marked. But as elevation is gained, the cairns become few, and alas, when you need them seem to stop (are 2 rocks on top of each other a cairn?)? We were left wondering where the trail went. The trail seemed to follow the river that comes from the Lyman glacier. We never crossed over it as there seemed no easy passage and we had lost the trail. We ended up hiking up a nearby peak that gave a great view of the mountain and a U-shaped glacial valley that seemed desolate to the east. I seemed to be at a similar altitude with Red Butte (7200), so would have another 700 vertical to attain Devils Garden...(wherever it was!). Those who continue on from here would be picking their trail carefully and route finding would be more challenging. Day #4: We head up from our camp at Killen meadows toward Adams, hoping for closer views. We were not disappointed. Eventually we intersect the #113 trail as we head up a peak to High Camp. What a beautiful view. Meadows, the Adams glacier tumbling down from the mountain, view of St. Helens and Rainier. Great view here! Day #5, and #6 we retrace our route back to Cold Springs. There is a great campsite near trail #9 just south of junct. with #16. NO MOSQUITOS! One more note: In the meadows, mosquitos are abundant. Mosquito coils surprisingly seem to work here!

Complete Round Mt Adams Hike Our party of three left the car at Divide Camp trailhead ascending a gentle grade 2.8 miles to intersect the PCT in a meadow with splendid view of the Adams Glacier. We then hiked north to the meadow at the intersection of the PCT and the Killen Cr. Tr. this is a very lovely area with a lovely waterfall, dry meadowlands, flowers, a few small snow patches and many camps. Mt Adams is above, below is a view of a small lake and in places, Mt Rainier. in the night we heard a distant cougar screaming, we think. The second day, we continued onto the Highline Tr. with more views and more elevation gain, seeing more of the NE side of the mtn. The last couple miles to the pass into Devil's Garden is generally well cairned and tracked, but finding a crossing for the last creek was difficult. The way is across both lava flows and moraines in places, but not hard to regain the trail when it disappears. At times cairns are hard to spot because they blend into their rocky surroundings. At the pass is a sign marking the boundary of the Yakima Reservation. See Forest Service website for regs on crossing and camping on the reservation. The descent down and then across a basin to the divide above Avalanche Spring and Valley was not difficult. The way was marked with cairns and orange trail tape in a few spots. This section becomes marginally cross country in a few places, but the track is easy to regain. Second camp was near the lower end of the small lake at Avalanche Springs. Great views across the eastern face of Mt Adams, very rugged and spectacular. We saw an ice avalanche high up beneath the ice cap. We were about 7 hours underway for day two. Day three was the crux. Very much cross country with very few to no cairns. There is a low route described by Woodmansee in Trekking Washington that was visible as a possibility. We took the high route shown on the Green Trails Mt. Adams map that ascends to Sunrise Camp, then descends from there via the climbers trail to The Viewpoint. Difficulties of note were: We crossed the branches of Rusk Cr. early without trouble. Poles advised. Then skirted around the end of Battlement Ridge relatively high, descending to the northern lateral moraine of the Klickitat Glacier. We ascended the moraine crest, meeting a solo hiker with dog who was doing the entire circuit in one day, for the 12th time. Oh well. He had crampons and poles for his early descent of the snowfield above. Descending the unstable slope of the moraine was awkward due to material wanting to slide out from under us, including large rocks as well as the usual sand and scree, We crossed the outlet stream Muddy Cr just below the snout of the glacier. Poles essential. Rocks rolled down the ice slope above as we took our careful turns in crossing, some landing 30 ft away. When we were across and away, a rock the size of a small refrigerator came down, missing our crossing area by 50 ft. Above, we ascended the terminal moraine reaching a long snowfield that leads up about 1000' to Sunrise Camp. We used ice axes, and at 1pm were able to kick 3" deep steps into the surface. The slope is moderate, maybe 20 degrees. Sunrise Camp is just over the crest, a colony of a dozen rock wall tent shelters. The route down is somewhat cairned but rough through talus and rock fields. Fortunately long snow fields saved us much of that. Below the way trail up from the Viewpoint is tricky to find from above, but we found it. Descended trail toward Bird Lake to meet the Round the Mt. Tr. which we followed west until we passed the edge of the reservation where we found a camp in a meadow with water. The map shows much of this area dry but there is lots of water this year late. About 9.5 hours for the day. Day four followed the trail to its intersection with PCT and then north about 14 mis in all. Many great views of the Adams and territory south, west. Camped in meadow area just north of Sheep Lake. The trail in this section hugs the 6000' contour, without big ascents or descents, but great scenery. Day 5, completed the loop and descended Divide Camp Tr to car in 3 hours. This is PCT through hiker season. We met two couples and enjoyed talking to them. Enthusiasm is high after weeks of forest hiking when they get here.

"Day Hiking: South Cascades" overlooked Shorthorn Trail #16; lack of publicity means hikers can find lots of solitude on the southwest side of Mount Adams. We only encountered four other people during our hike. The Shorthorn Trail starts at Morrison Creek Campground on Road 8040 (from Trout Lake, follow the signs for South Climb). The trail climbs a ridge through lodgepole pines, crossing rocky washes and reaching a nice stream with wildflowers and clear water at 2.2 miles. Enroute, we flushed a group of blue grouse from the ground while another grouse clucked from deep within the foliage of an evergreen tree. There was evidence of a spectacular beargrass bloom earlier this summer but all gone to seed by the time of our hike. From here on, the views improve and the wildflowers increase as the trail crosses Crofton Creek in a steep gully and climbs abruptly to a junction with Round-the-Mountain Trail #9 at a saddle on Crofton Ridge at 2.9 miles and 1,400 feet elevation gain. Just beyond the junction, leave the trail to follow Crofton Ridge south about .25 mile to a high point (6,227 feet) and wide views of the south face of Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens to the west, and the Trout Lake Valley and Mount Hood to the south. We continued west on the Round-the-Mountain Trail but got diverted by wildflowers in a seep near a crossing of the headwaters of Salt Creek. We ran out of time to continue on to Madcat Meadow or Lookingglass Lake, both feasible destinations for a day hike. The south side of Mount Adams appears generally dry and rocky, so it was interesting to find white bog orchids and western false asphodel in bloom. Three species of monkeyflowers -- Lewis's, mountain, and seep-spring -- were growing side-by-side along the streams. In all, we identified about 35 species of flowers in bloom. On our return drive, we took a 1/4-mile side trip to visit the Trout Lake Big Tree -- a giant ponderosa pine that is 202 feet high and 84 inches in diameter.

A ski mountaineering trip doesn't really belong on this site, but we did enjoy two trails on Mt Adams along the way, and they were in great shape. The South Climb trail hits consistent snow after about a mile and a half, and the 1-mile section of Around-The-Mountain trail that we used had patches of snow, but was in all respects easy to follow and use. Bear grass was in rampant full bloom in the lower elevations (below the Cold Springs Campground).